


shiver as our cherry's burning slow

by imgoingtocrash



Series: Twenty-Something [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cassian gets a little flustered, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 08:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9984719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgoingtocrash/pseuds/imgoingtocrash
Summary: “He looks nervous, sock-covered feet shifting weight, arms crossed over his chest. Almost as nervous as she feels, her insides shaking around like they’re on the precipice of an expansive something despite the fact that it’s not even an offer for a date, not really.”When Jyn returns Cassian’s jacket the day after the fire alarm incident, some plans are made.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a direct follow-up to “winter (throws us to the safety of our clothes)," so due to references to Jyn and Cassian’s previous conversations and interactions in that fic, I would suggest you read that first if you haven't already.
> 
> A bunch of you asked for more from this verse, specifically for Cassian and Jyn’s following discussion. While I was initially going to fold that into what will be part 3 of this series, this was at almost 1000 words by the time I’d finished it and I felt that it worked better by itself than what I had originally intended.
> 
> I’m almost never able to do sequels, so kudos to you guys for encouraging this. Your comments about your own college dorm fire alarm tales were wonderful and I loved that the fic connected you to them.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this and are looking forward to what’s coming up!

“Kay,” Jyn states amicably, standing at the cracked door of 5F with Cassian’s coat tucked over her arm.

“Erso,” Kay replies, hunched over to look at her through where the chain is still attached to the door. Apparently Cassian shared her name with his roommate since they last spoke. Their stare-off drags on for a few more uncomfortable seconds before he speaks again, slowly pushing the door shut as he goes. “Well, nice of you to stop by, sad to see you leave—“

“ _Kay_ ,” says a familiar voice, admonishing Kay as if he were a poorly trained animal. She’s inclined to agree with that assessment as the lanky man lets out a petulant huff, slamming the door in her face, sliding the chain off, and allowing Cassian to gently elbow him out of the entryway for the apartment as it opens again. 

“I would just like it to be known that I do not approve of…” Kay makes a gesture, flapping his hand in her general direction before stomping off to where she assumes his bedroom is.

“Yeah, we get it,” Cassian calls over his shoulder, shaking his head with a fond smile tugging up his cheek as he turns to her fully. “Sorry about him.”

“I’ll live,” she grumbles, part of her enjoying the fight of their back and forth and newly minted mutual dislike. Some part of her wonders if Bodhi would be equally protective of her upon meeting Cassian or if Kay’s just a special mix of loyal and blunt.

“What’s up?” Cassian casually tugs a hand through his hair, pulling the short strands away from his forehead and drawing her eyes up towards the way the rest catch in the indoor lighting.

At the confused raise of his eyebrow she startles, shaking her head back and forth. It’s just from her lack of sleep, she thinks, from remembering how he’d looked at her so warmly in the hallway the night before, hair all tugged around from what sleep he’d attained before the fire alarm dragged him out of bed to join her in the parking lot.

That thought in itself reminds her of her purpose, clenching the blue fabric between her fingers before holding it out to him. “I, um, forgot to return this last night. So.”

“I wondered why I couldn’t find it this morning,” he chuckles, accepting the jacket and holding it lightly against his chest. “Thank you.”

There’s a comfortable quiet between them, his body shifting to lean against the doorframe and the feeling of her fingers twisting together without the coat to hold onto. She gives him a firm nod and a polite upturn of her lips before turning her body to walk to her flat. “You’re welcome.”

She’s three steps down the hall when he calls to her back. “Jyn!” 

“How did it go?” She turns and feels a sense of déjà vu, the two of them in this hallway half-smiling over nothing significant, possibly just at each other. At her non-reply he nods towards her book bag, slung over her shoulder and ripping apart at the seams. “The test?”

“Oh,” She fights the urge to make a gagging sound of displeasure to fully communicate to him how awful it was, but decides it’s overkill and goes with a shrug, particularly because she doesn’t actually think she failed it. “Professor Kenobi doesn’t ask enough multiple choice questions for my tastes, but I think I passed. How’s Draven?”

He rolls his eyes in a highly exaggerated fashion, his head tapping against the wooden doorframe. “Some poor sophomore used MLA format instead of ACS in his citations. Draven raked him a new one in the course of a 5 minute lecture. I bought the guy a coffee after class because I thought he might start crying.”

“Ah, lecture #13.” She nods empathetically. She hadn’t received that particular dressing down herself, but she still has the crumpled sheet of notebook paper in which she documented the temperamental professor’s greatest hits amongst all her classmates during their one and only semester together. “An oldie but a goodie.”

“I forgot, I’m dealing with a veteran.” He smirks, the smallest showing of his teeth peeking though. She briefly admits to herself that he has a nice smile that she could get used to seeing more often.

“Something like that. Nice of you to do damage control though,” She puts an agonized air into her voice, tinged with teasing. “I wish you’d been around when I was one of his preferred targets. You would’ve had to buy me _so much coffee_.”

“I still could,” he says, eyes widening a little as if the offer, how it sounds so much like a _line_ , just slipped out before he could catch it. A blush creeps up red against his skin and it’s almost endearing how neither of them seem to really know what they’re doing here. “I—I didn’t mean, uh, like that. But we should. Hang out, I mean.”

He looks nervous, sock-covered feet shifting weight, arms crossed over his chest. Almost as nervous as she feels, her insides shaking around like they’re on the precipice of an expansive _something_ despite the fact that it’s not even an offer for a date, not really.

“I have time before my class at 11 tomorrow.” Jyn looks back at him, how his smirk-turned-nervous-grimace has bloomed back into a full-fledged smile, all the way up to his cheeks. The realization of her own smile is surprising, but welcome. “I’ll be getting coffee as it is, you know, if you’d want to come.”

“Yeah,” Cassian says, maybe more breathless than he should be just standing there watching her. “Yeah, I would like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Research tells me that different branches within the sciences use different citation styles. I decided that Draven is teaching some sort of Chemistry course, therefore he asks for ACS (American Chemical Society) style. Here’s one to the infinite college paper writing resources of internet for the assist on that. I'm also very happy that most of my experience is with MLA.
> 
> An itsy bitsy sneak peek for part 3: Someone’s locked out of their apartment. Things develop quite quickly in a single moment. There’s couch-sharing involved. Kay sighs.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I appreciate all of your comments/kudos/etc.


End file.
